Anti-terrorism laws introduced in Britain after September 11th are "inconsistent" with international human rights and should be repealed, Amnesty International said today.
The charity claimed the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act, passed in November 2001, contravened fundamental human rights and that Britain was the only country to breach basic human liberties in the wake of the atrocities.
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Inmates at the US base in Guantanamo, Cuba, kneel handcuffed and hooded on their arrival
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It called for an immediate repeal of Section 4, which empowers the Home Secretary to detain foreign nationals indefinitely, without charge or trial, if they are deemed to pose a risk to national security.
According to the report, detainees under the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act suffered "cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment" as a result of their imprisonment.
Terrorist suspects are regularly classified as category A and taken to high security prisons, where they are locked in their cells for 22 hours a day. They were also subjected to "abuse and intimidation" and habitually denied the right to appeal, Amnesty International claimed.
Amnesty International also called for the release of all those detained at Camp X-ray in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, claiming their detention and their "legal limbo" represented a serious breach of human rights.
According to the report, the seven British nationals held at the camp were routinely denied the right to counsel, had limited communications with their families, faced potential trial by military commission with the power to pass death sentences, and faced the prospect of indefinite detention without charge or trial.
PA